Microsoft (MSFT) releases earnings early

Microsoft reports weaker quarterly figures and says revenues will be lower in the second half of the year. IT spending slowed significantly. They guide expenses to 27.4 billion for the full year -- telling you about the only thing they can control. Many analysts have suggested a miss was coming and there's been sort of a consensus opinion that you should plan to buy it on the weakness around the release. Headcount reduction of 5000 is below the figures bandied around in the blogosphere (oh god, I used that stupid word). Despite revenues up 10% q/q, deferred revenues dropped ~5%... not what you want to see but probably what you ought to expect.

Microsoft is starting to set up interestingly in that Windows 7's beta is getting excellent reviews. There might be a nice upgrade opportunity for them out there amongst the Vista community… and maybe even the 7 year old XP base. It's worth keeping an eye on. I would expect Windows 7 to ship in the fall.